Quote of the Day (Katharine Hepburn, on Wearing Pants and Skirts)

Katharine Hepburn: “I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man…I’ve just done what I damn well wanted to and I made enough money to support myself. And I ain’t afraid of being alone.”

Barbara Walters: “Is that why also you wear pants?”

Hepburn: “No, I just wore pants because they’re comfortable.”

Walters: “Do you ever wear a skirt, by the way?”

Hepburn: “I have one.”

Walters: “You have one.”

Hepburn (laughing): “I’ll wear it to your funeral!”—From “The Barbara Walters Summer Special,” June 2, 1981

Accompanying this post is perhaps my favorite image of Katharine Hepburn, from the 1942 romantic comedy Woman of the Year. She made the acquaintance of one lover, Spencer Tracy, on the set of this film, while an ex-love, George Stevens, directed her. 

Normally, I would say that Stevens, with his exquisite eye, knew how to make Hepburn look good, except that, after seeing an exhibition on Hepburn and Fashion at the Lincoln Center branch of the New York Public Library late last year, I learned that the star had her very own, shrewd sense of how she appeared. How could anyone argue with her?